My hometown is Rochester, Pennsylvania. Located in Beaver County, where the Beaver River meets the Ohio River. With an approximate population of 3,600 and an average graduating class of about 65 at local Rochester Area High School we are a comfortable small town. No matter where I go in town I am guaranteed to see at the very least five people I know. I would consider it more of a combination of a pedestrian oriented town and an automobile suburb. Some of the adults in the community commute out of town to go to work everyday, while there are also local businesses where some walk to work everyday. The local grocery store is a light to moderate walk from any given location in town. All year round there is a steady balance of both foot traffic on sidewalks and automobile traffic on the roadways.
The first city from the reading I’d like to discuss is Rochester, New York. I have now lived in Rochester, New York since the first of the year and have grown familiar with the area. A larger population than that of Rochester, PA increases the amount of traffic almost everywhere. Within the city there are many places in walking distance, but as mentioned in the reading it is an automobile suburb. Surrounding neighborhoods not but five minutes out of the city is where the majority of the population resides. During my morning commute you are able to see the amount of people heading into the city for work.
Next, I am going to discuss Beacon Hill, Boston. Beacon Hill is the example of a pedestrian oriented city where people choose to walk rather than drive. I mentioned that Rochester, PA was a combination of both a pedestrian oriented town and an automobile suburb and this example gives a good comparison. In Beacon Hill, there are places to work and shop. People do not necessarily need a vehicle in order to get to these places. Rochester, PA has the unique ability allow people to enjoy a nice walk to the store if they so choose or drive out of town to a nearby shopping mall.
Hello Ian!
Your post interests me – I see we both come from a small town! I am all too familiar with running into people I know when I’m out running errands. While I didn’t write about my small hometown (it’s not really “urban”), feel free to drop a comment if you like: https://wp.me/p3RCAy-cwu
First of all, let me remark how interesting it is that your hometown and the town you currently reside in are both named “Rochester” (albeit in differing states). Your hometown sounds awfully similar to mine: businesses within walking distance and driving distance. What is different is how in your hometown, the “walkers” (so to speak) are still as common as the automotive traffic all year round (even in Winter) – how is that? I would have guessed that there would have been more vehicles than pedestrians due to the colder temperatures. Are the walking distances really short?